The large transparent moderated bluish green
glass urn with flaring rim folded inward, with a
ledge for the lid; concave neck, globular body,
slightly pushed in hollow base ring. Two heavy
omega-shaped handles, each one made from
one thick coil, applied on the left and attached
on the right , the excess glass drawn out thin
and folded outward. On exterior and interior
flaky rainbow iridescence.

Often protected by a lead container, the glass
cinerary urn was common in areas where
cremation was practiced; in the western
Mediterranean from Italy to Spain and the north-
African coast as far east as Tripoli, as well as in
the north-western provinces of the Roman
Empire, from where this example possibly came.
Their archaeological distribution confined within
graves and columbaria would confirm that they
were made specifically for funerary purposes and
were not household jars in secondary use like
several other vessel shapes. Most of the
analogous pieces found in excavations were
provided with a pierced lid which probably
served as a funnel for pouring libations.

In the history of Roman glass, the second half of
the first century was by far the most prolific in
terms of quantity, variety and functionalities. It
was the expansion of the Empire that spurred
the
emergence of satellite glass centres in the new
provinces to the north-west and north-east of
Italy. The romanization of these regions also
meant that most of the glass produced there
would closely follow typologies and techniques
in
vogue in Rome. This was a period of great
homogeneity but also a period of important
developments in terms of functions. It was
during the second half of the 1st century AD that
large glass vessels for the storage of liquids and
solids were first introduced. This dramatic
increase in size – attested also by the size of our
urn- was possible thanks to the introduction of
both the iron blow-pipe and the technique of
mould-blowing for utilitarian wares.
Furthermore, the absence of a pontil scar on the
urn, would seem to confirm that, by this time,
glassblowers had already figured out how to
make large vessels, even before they developed
and perfected the pontil technique.